Posts by itsallgoodnow

23

Can the JWs really be called Christians?

by greendawn in

given the jehovah centred approach of the jws and the marginalisation of christ at least as compared to mainstream christian religions, the extreme reliance on the old testament and particularly the refusal of nearly all jws to participate in the new covenent, should they be thought of as christians at all?

even though they like to call themselves at times: christian (?!

) jehovah's witnesses.

itsallgoodnow

It depends on who you would ask, probably. Seems people have all different kinds of criteria on what makes a christian, a christian. My criteria is... do they use the new testatment? yes? then, yes. they qualify as christian regardless of who they pray to, whether they believe in a trinity, whether they consider themselves brothers of christ, or whatever. They use that part of the bible, they are christian.

I know that makes christians uneasy, but they are using the same book, just interpreting it differently, as most christian religions do.

62

How do you feel about the name Jehovah?

by JWdaughter in

do you use it anymore?

do you care?

do you cringe when you hear it?

itsallgoodnow

How I feel about the word "Jehovah" depends on the context.

for example,

"Jehovah is a myth." That's ok with me.

"Thank you Jehovah for finding my purse." Not ok.

85

Has anyone read this article..

by earthtone in

it broke my heart to read about someone having to paying court fee's after wining a sexual abuse case against the wtbts.

she ended up winning 5,000 dollars but has to pay 220000 dollars in court feee to wtbts and for her lawyer.

crazy!.

itsallgoodnow

The policy IS JWs do not discourage people from going to the police. But what WAS the policy when the incident happened? And what was the policy of that particular group of elders? Sometimes there is a disconnect when it comes to official policy vs reality. What is important is this particular case. Official policy has been forced to change as a result of similar cases against the WTS as it should. If I became aware of abuse or witnessed abuse of any sort, I wouldn't hesitate to call the police. A few years ago, I might have thought reporting it to the elders would be enough, but I know the elders may or may not handle it in the appropriate, legal way.

48

Would this offend you, if the government made this policy

by free2beme in

jw
friends

if the government had this policy .... given that 100% of the terrorist who did 9/11 were arab, and most terrorist are arab.

we as a government will racially profile the arab population and visitors to our country.

spending more time inspecting them, checking them out, and making sure that they are singled out and watched more then any other race.. would this offend you?.

itsallgoodnow

will this offend me? nope.

I am not sure how much faith I have in the idea that only fundamentalist islamics are terrorists. I think there's an element of religious hatred toward westerners even among many "moderate" Islamic people I know personally. Are they terrorists? probably not, but could be more involved than we know.

I'm sorry if that offends anyone here. I'm normally a fair person but my own involvement with a cult makes me wonder how far deep all islamic people could be in a dangerous and threatening religion, even if they swear up and down they are "peaceful". by the actions of the people I know involved in this "peaceful" religion, I see an arrogance and disrespect that runs very deep in most of them.

93

Wikipedia being abused by Jehovahs Witnesses

by Simon in

i had a look at the wikipedia entry for jehovahs witnesses yesterday and noticed that it wasn't as comprehensive as it once was.. most links to non-pro-jw sites have gone as is anything truly critical or exposing of their beliefs and practices.. last night i added a link to this site to the "other sources" section.

this morning it is gone.. i wonder whether this is some private zealot who has decided to do it or an organised campaign?.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/jehovah%27s_witnesses.

itsallgoodnow

it's a real shame wikipedia is set up the way it is. I use it sometimes for certain types of references, but the JW page really left a bad taste in my mouth. I tried to make some changes recently and it took less than 3 minutes before my changes were unchanged. and I received a swift warning. meaning, if I did it again, my ip address would be recorded and they would lock me out.

I communicated with the pro-JW who hit me with the warning and he claims they have a mixed group of moderators, ie a few active JWs and a few non-JWs. I stated I didn't think the critics of JWs area was very well researched and the issues were not represented fairly. He advised me to put something together that was well researched. He also suggested I try to ask to be part of the moderation team. Of course that means he is still in charge, since I have a real job that doesn't allow me to surf the net all day. Along with all of that, he had the audacity to give me a stern lecture about throwing away my hope for the future and the dangers of associating with apostates. What a laugh. I gave him a few things to think about in response. He's still thinking, I suppose because I haven't heard anything back. This guy is sitting in a cramped office in brooklyn new york, I suspect. Shifts, definitely.

Not too long ago, I remember seeing a lot more against the Jehovah's Witnesses listed there.

I complained to wikipedia and got no response.

I also looked up a few things under "cult" and remember it used to have more information than it currently has. Curious. I think lots of the fundamental religions are probably up to the same thing. We should check out "scientology" and see what sort of propaganda is out there.

Wikipedia blows. I think I won't use anything from wikipedia as a source for arguments any longer. I'm only using it for trivial pop culture research.

13

American ignorance and the loss of American freedoms

by free2beme in

jw
friends

i am forever in amazement at how much americans wine about all that the government has done since 9/11 to prevent more terror attacks.

they wine because they have to do fingerprints now in banks, or how much extra time it takes to get through airport lines.

i work in the telecommunication industry, and i can not believe how much of a big deal people made of the phone tapping done by our government.

itsallgoodnow

I know it probably seems like Americans are just a bunch of crybabies, but I figure lots of people just don't adjust well to recent changes, want things to go back to the way they were, assume this is the worst of it (hahahaha) and these people are just louder about it than the rest of us.

I think maybe we should try socialized healthcare, I don't mind extra security at the airport, although I hope they don't ask me to check my laptop, and I really don't think they are listening to my phone calls, and if they are, I really don't care.

43

Hello! I'm new here

by exwitless in

jw
friends

i'm new to posting to this forum.

my husband and i have been reading it for a few months.

we have finally written, sealed, and stamped our da letter, and it's ready to go directly to the post office.

itsallgoodnow

welcome exwitless & hubby and also on the way out.

wow, I can't believe they would leave that article in your door. they are such angry people.

onthewayout, you've got a tough road ahead and I'm sure there will be lots of great support here for you. good luck!

6

An elder just called me -- Longest 20 minutes ever

by Dune in

jw
friends

i'm trying to fade away.. .

so to make a long story short, i left my congregation without saying so much of anything but to one of the elders.

another elder calls me up tonight and starts talking about how he expected me to be more mature about the situation (keep in mind i havent so much as said more than "hi" to him for the past two years.

itsallgoodnow

it's too bad. if you only knew how easy it is when you don't have a penis. no elder gives a flip. I get snotty remarks from elders wives, sure, but nothing official from the man. this is one time I'm not complaining about the lack of equality.

39

What happened 5 or 6 years ago to get so many of us out of JW?

by jayhawk1 in

i was reading through the thread, "how good does if feel to you not attending meetings anymore?

" i realized something.

many of us got out between 5 and 6 years ago.

itsallgoodnow

I don't know about 5 or 6 years, but I think I've noticed changes in people. It seems so much more clear the meetings are all about guilting people into obedience. It seems people say what they say and do what they do and what they say and what they do rarely matches up. It seems people don't really get to know each other in the congregation they way they used to. It seems the elders are much more fierce than they used to be. And it's obvious to me many elders are fully aware of what is being said on the internet and they are working hard to get people to ignore the facts. They look at people like they suspect everyone is looking at the internet. Some of it is so obvious to me, but has my computer illiterate family wondering why these things are being brought up. I regularly swallow my words. If they only knew how much I know... If only.

27

What affect did the Watchtower have on your emotional health?

by The wanderer in

jw
friends

untitled document  watchtower arouses emotions how much of an affect did the organization have on you deciding to become one of.

jehovah's witnesses or staying within the confines of the organization?.

did the artists rendition of paradise earth pull you into the "truth"?

itsallgoodnow

Depression, guilt, anger, was all out of control. I haven't really left it yet, and I have to really struggle to monitor what's going on inside. when I initially found out about it being a cult, I was so elated but that didn't last long. I didnt think I could get any lower than before, but my anger was really out of control. I think if I had just been able to talk to my family, I could have got it all out and been finished with it by now. Fading turned out to be much more difficult than I imagined. I can talk freely here, but there's something about talking to someone face to face that is so much better. someone on the outside. the only person I can talk to on the outside face to face just tries to get me to join their church and I think that's the only reason they even allow me to talk about any of it. I don't talk to them about it anymore. so now I just have this board. I probably need to see a therapist about it, but they will only tell me what I don't want to hear, that is, that I need to come clean to my family. Well, I'm not ready right now, so I just have to deal with it. I'm really surprised I've been able to deal with it at all and for this long. It's probably one of the most character building things I have ever gone through, and I'm glad I have had to reach inside and find out what I was made of.

The depression is very much under control, rarely flares up. The anger is slowly subsiding. The guilt feelings rarely haunt me. Though, I still have prolonged periods of anxiety. Probably just a side effect of the double life I've got going here, which is disappointing and more trouble than it's worth most of the time.